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Marc Pugliese - Theology and Religion LibGuide: Finding Resources

Saint Leo University Professor, Marc A. Pugliese, has a LibGuide to assiss in theology and religion research and resources at Saint Leo University's Cannon Memorial Library

Finding Resources

Finding Resources

Determining the right sources to use, and evaluating those sources is an important skill we need all the time. It’s been called an art as well as work—much of which is detective work. You have to decide where to look, what clues to search for, and what to accept. You may be overwhelmed with too much information or too little. The temptation is to accept whatever you find. But don’t be tempted. Learning how to choose and evaluate resources effectively is a skill you need.

When writing research papers or conducting research for a project, you will need to make decisions about what to search for, and where to look. Once you’ve found material on your topic, decide whether to use it in your paper or project.

Ask yourself some questions before you start. You might also want to ask a librarian for help in narrowing your topic and determining the best reference sources.

Questions to think about:
What kind of information should you look for?

  • Facts?
  • Opinions?
  • News reports?
  • Research studies?
  • Analyses?
  • Personal reflections?
  • History?

Where would be a likely place to look? Which sources are likely to be most useful to you?

  • The library?
  • Academic (peer reviewed) journals?
  • Newspapers or magazines, and trade publications?
  • Government records?
  • The Internet?

Common sources of information:

 

Current event: a reliable newspaper like the NY Times.

Statistics on some aspect of the U.S. population? Reference sources which compile stats -- United States Statistical Abstract, and United States census reports (available online). Ask a librarian if you need assistance.

 

Scholarly interpretations of literature: academic periodicals and books are likely to have what you’re looking for - go to the library's main website (http://www.saintleo.edu/library).

 

Commercial products/Companies: Company analysis, Industry analysis, and SWOT analysis of companies can be located in Business Source complete; company web sites, reference sources, and MSN Money are also good starting places.

 

Local history: OCLC worldcatVoyager, the library's subscription to America's Newspapers, county public libraries, local government offices, or a local newspaper archive is likely to be the most useful.The University Archives also has a searchable version of the student newspaper The Monarch available online.

 

Education resources, peer reviewed journal articles, topics, etc., can be found in any of the general article databases, including ProQuest, EBSCO, and https://saintleo.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com/. Ebooks on education can be located in Greenwood, Ebrary, and in EBSCO ebooks. See the ebook section of the tutorial for more information.

 

Religion topics: The Cannon Memorial Library has extensive religous holdings; start with OCLC worldcatVoyager, and include a search of the ATLA Religion database, which is available through the library's subscription to EBSCO. For general information, biblical interpretive texts, etc., we have a large selection of reference books available. Ask a librarian for assistance.

 

Psychology projects and papers: If you need scholarly articles, PsycINFO will have abstracts available, and PsycArticles will have full text articles. If you do not find the articles in any of those places, we can order it through InterLibrary Loan. For general information, psychological test, etc., we have a large selection of reference books available. Ask a librarian for assistance.

 

Science projects and papers: A good starting point would be the reference section of the library, as well Access Science, and https://saintleo.idm.oclc.org/login?url=http://www.credoreference.com/.  

 

English and Literature projects and papers: A good starting point would be the print reference section of the library, as well as our online databases for scholarly articles --we subscribe to JSTOR,  Twayne's Authors, Literature Resource Center, and Literary Criticism. Ask a librarian for help in determining the best areas to look for your topic.

 

Military History, ROTC projects and papers: Designed to offer current news pertaining to all branches of the military, International Security and Counter-terrorism index in EBSCO would be a good resource to examine, along with our selected website links for students.